This week, the Ground Systems Power and Energy Lab (GSPEL)opened - a 30,000-square-foot lab in Michigan that will develop alternative fuels and advanced batteries for combat vehicles. It will test and demonstrate fuel cells, hybrid systems, battery technologies and others, which likely will have applications in passenger and commercial vehicles.

In 2013, an "Army Green Warrior Convoy" will road-test those vehicles, stopping at schools, colleges, communities and military facilities to display them to the the military and public.

"Renewable energy is critical to making our bases more energy-secure," said the White House in a statement. "Together with emerging microgrid and storage technologies, reliable, local sources of renewable power will increase the energy security of our nation's military installations. By doing so, the DOD is better able to carry out its mission to defend the nation."

In tandem, the Dept of Energy (DOE) launched a $30 million research competition through its Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) to improve energy storage technology.

ARPA-E's "Advanced Management and Protection of Energy-storage Devices" (AMPED) program will develop next-generation energy storage sensing and control technologies, which have the potential to:

Increase fuel efficiency of military generators to reduce the need for fuel-convoys on the battlefield;